CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
—dumb deals

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—JUDITH never went home that year. Her mother had returned from deployment before Christmas rolled along, but by that time, there had already been three attacks on the camp's borders, two sightings of monster buses ( yes, they traveled by freaking charter bus ), and then she had the whole messed up issue with Nico and Percy to deal with. She couldn't go home when things were escalating too far and too quickly.

The fall and winter months were relatively uneventful apart from the events that took place right after Percy's party. The two boys had given her their own rendition of the proposition Nico offered that night. While Nico's highlighted the pros heavily, Percy's had really emphasized the possible death part.

But Nico had been the one to simplify it down for her.

The minuscule chance of Percy dying in the River Styx was nothing compared to the chance of Kronos killing him in one blow without the curse on his side. The answer seemed so obvious to her because Judith had a hard time thinking about Percy dying — it just didn't sit right with her. It made her chest ache. But she battled between wanting to see him safe and the utter aversion she held for this reckless habit he had of taking everything upon himself like it was his job.

There was no true win-win scenario. There never was. But in the end, she chose to focus on what she deemed mattered to her more, Percy's life. Judith's annoyances could be set aside for the reassurance of his safety, knowing she would be beside him every step of the way, even if he tried to force her away.

  And her choice had put them at odds with each other.

  Then spring came, and things started to pick up drastically. The satyrs that weren't out in the Wild were sent to recruit more half-bloods or retrieve the many who had gone back home. A few refused to come back for fear of death ( Judith couldn't blame them, they'd already lost too many ).

  They'd lost two since the combat missions were started up. Depending on the job, a couple or more Demigods were sent out to stop a monster bus or stop a migration on foot. Judith had been with Beckendorf on the very first mission, destroying an undercover school bus filled to the brim with dracaenae. They used one of the Hephaestus boy's new inventions, Greek Fire bombs, detonated by a button on his watch.

  The invention was great — genius, really — but it wasn't quite enough to put a dent in a massive army. Each day, Kronos' army grew and the odds in their favor got exponentially smaller. And one thing that could possibly change the tides was stubbornly ignoring Judith's Iris-messages.

  "Has he said anything to you?" Judith leaned against a tree, sharpening Soulrender as Nico hung from a tree branch upside down ( he claimed it helped to get the blood flowing after shadow traveling ).

Nico sighed. "Nothing new."

The two sat in silence. There was still time, they told themselves, but not much. They had a few months of what the campers had taken to calling the 'calm before the storm,' but it wasn't really calm. Each day seemed like a fight for their lives, even the quiet ones.

And the first day of summer was the next day, meaning Percy would be there midday. His presence would kickstart a ticking clock in everyone's mind.

"You have to convince him," the son of Hades pushed, jumping down from his branch. "Percy's strong, but not strong enough to beat a Titan."

Judith placed her whetstone on a root beside her to watch Nico pace. "I've tried. You've seen me try." Judith then whispered darkly, "Maybe we should get Rachel Dare to beg him. I bet he'd do it then."

Nico rolled his eyes at her dramatics, but was not about to argue with her. Honestly, there was nothing he could say to argue. Percy and Rachel had undoubtedly gotten closer over the school year, leading to a very annoyed Judith. Nico understood that the guy needed some sort of mortal life to ground him to something away from his stressors, but Judith couldn't understand as well as him — clouded by her jealousy even as their relationship was in a little rut.

"I've made some changes to the plan," he changed the subject in order to guide her away from violent thoughts.

"What changes?" Judith questioned. The two had come up for a game plan if ( when! ) Percy agreed.

"I think we need to know for sure that Luke chose to bathe in the Styx instead of just assuming," Nico said.

Judith thought on it. The whole idea of getting Percy to follow in Achilles' footsteps ( not entirely, of course ) was because Luke had probably done so in order to house the Titan in his body. There was very little chance that he hadn't, but she humored the son of Hades. "And how do we find that out?"

Nico shuffled. "Achilles' mother had to dip him in the river. The legend goes that you need a matriarchal blessing, Luke would have needed his mother's consent."

"Iris-message?" The daughter of Ares asked.

The boy shook his head, contemplative. "I've tried to reach out, she's inaccessible that way. It has to be in person."

"Do you even know where Luke's mother lives?" Judith asked.

Nico halted his pace. "Not exactly, but I can find out." The girl didn't even want to know how many ghosts he'd have to summon to find out.

The girl was thoughtful for a minute. "If we're so sure that Luke did this, then maybe this is just the last nudge Percy needs. Once he starts to agree, we can take him to this woman and once she confirms it, he'll have to do it." It made sense in her mind, but there was a part of her that didn't want to coerce Percy into something big like this if there was any doubt in his mind.

For Percy's own good, she steeled herself, but a chasm within her screamed back, for the good of the war. Leave it to her father to force his way in her mind when making influential life decisions. The instinctual part of her refused to be on a losing side. Obviously, she'd never convert over, but she could not sit by and let things happen if she could help it. It was ... uncomfortable, having her head and heart agree on something so easily, though for very different reasons. But their middle ground only served to tell Judith that it had to happen.

There was no other option in her mind.

Nico left about an hour later when the horn sounded for dinner. He wouldn't be returning for a while as he had leads to follow from his past. Judith had hoped he would stay in order to gang up on the son of Poseidon the next day, but he never 'overstayed his welcome,' as he so eloquently put it. Convincing him otherwise was impossible, so she stopped trying.

  But she refused to stop trying when it came to Percy.

  Even when he said, "I don't want to talk about this right now."

  Judith had rejected the offer of a reunion hug, attempting to get right down to business. That was all anyone had time for anymore. Business; planning and executing. Camp was not the same, he had to understand that. He had been away too long.

  The girl crossed her arms, walking alongside Percy as they made their way to his cabin. "Then when will you talk about it?"

  The son of Poseidon sighed heavily. Percy had known that the girl would bombard him with things he didn't want to think about as soon as he entered camp; he just hadn't prepared for it, naively. He had a whole speech in his head that would tell her how much he missed her, how much the past school year had sucked ( making sure not to mention Rachel since it would put her in a foul mood ), and then the speech would hopefully end with some sort of 'all-is-forgiven' kiss. But that had been thrown out the window the moment she mentioned the plan.

  "I don't know." He rubbed a spot on the bridge of his nose that was slowly starting to ache. "Can't there just be one moment where we forget about it? I feel like that's all you and I talk about now."

  He was right. It was. But Judith couldn't look at him and talk about things that didn't matter without seeing him on the wrong end of a deadly scythe every time she blinked. For the past year, she'd mulled over, dreamed about, and re-enacted the events that played out with Kronos in the Labyrinth where she had lost her ax. She didn't regret defending the boy against a deadly Titan ( even if it had resulted in her precious weapon getting destroyed ). She would do it all over again, because every time she played the scene out with a slight change ... Percy got hurt or he didn't make it. It was a nightmare that she relived constantly.

At the girl's silence, he continued, "Judith, I've told you guys I would think about it —"

  "Months ago!" She protested his defense.

  "It's not exactly a quick and easy, get-it-over-with, decision!" He yelled back. They were now in the Poseidon cabin, still pristine from Tyson's cleaning last summer.

  The two disregarded the rule about two campers alone in a cabin. They weren't exactly at risk of doing the things the rule was made for at that moment. If anything, they'd get in trouble for instigating a fist fight sometime soon.

  "But it is time sensitive!" Judith's fire was unwavering. She'd like to think her Odikinesis had gotten more manageable with time, but some things still set it off ( like frustrating teenage boys, for example ). "I'm not asking you to flat-out say yes and do it all right now! I just ... " She heaved a breath and one of her hands flew to her arm guards, a new pair, metal. She twisted them around anxiously, stopping only when Percy's hand reached out to halt her fidgets.

  "I just need to know that if and when it comes down to it, and there seems like no other option, that you'll consider it."

  Percy stepped closer, but retracted his hand. "Isn't that what I'm doing now? I am considering it."

  "I mean seriously, Percy. Not just as an after thought or a fail safe," she leveled. A commitment such as this one couldn't just be a last resort. The River Styx was a test of will power and strength. He really would die if he didn't want it.

"Why are you so over the moon about this idea? What happened to not wanting me to be a stupid hero?"

Judith paused. Her words from last summer banged around in her head, hitting her temples till they ached. When arguing with anyone else, Judith always found herself fueled and unstoppable. Yet somehow, fighting with Percy felt like a chore, leaving her drained. She hated it, but at the same time, felt relieved.

"Over the moon is hardly what I'd call it," she scoffed, evading the question. He definitely noticed as his frown deepened.

"Judith, you're deflecting," he said.

The girl couldn't hide her clenched jaw. "You won't be alone, I still stand by that. But if it has to be you who takes on Kronos ... I would feel better, knowing you weren't so ..."

  "So what?" Percy pressed. This wasn't just a word she refused to say out of preservation of her reputation ( words like jealous, scared, or sorry among them ), it was a word that frightened her. He could see her shifty eyes avoid his earnest gaze.

"You know ..." Don't make her say it.

  And for once, Percy did know. She feared that he was too vulnerable, too susceptible to death. He knew she got nervous whenever he did something impulsive ( she would probably hit him for saying that ), despite her own instinctive nature. He just wanted her to say it. To let him know she still cared.

But she didn't. Thinking about Percy dying or even just injured doused her in a putrid gasoline, left her floundering in toxic fumes, something she'd been doing for the past year. But voicing it — especially to him — would finally set the match. Judith would combust and break down if she told him how scared she was for him.

"Okay, if I agree to think seriously about it, can we go back to normal?" Percy asked hurriedly at the end of a long period of her silence, after she'd reverted back to itching her arms.

"Yeah," she breathed.

"Good." And he wasted no time hooking her in a hug. The contact was so long overdue that it felt foreign. He felt Judith wrap her arms around him, something she had always been reluctant to do in the past. They stood like that for a while, relishing in the proper reunion that they had both yearned for.

Judith hadn't realized how much she missed this. She'd gone the majority of her life without the physical aspect of comfort, her mother rarely home, her step-dad having no idea what comfort even meant, and she didn't have many friends. Then she came to camp and she'd started to rely on Clarisse's quick side-hugs, her half-brothers' pokes and prods, Annabeth's soothing pats, and then Percy came along and showed her a new kind of warmth, one that made her happy and drove her crazy at the same time, but it was all gone too soon. Her family left, Percy left, Annabeth was rarely present. So she would soak in this while she had it in her grasp.

"Camp isn't the same anymore," Judith's voice vibrated against his shoulder. She had released her grip on him, but was leaning her head on him to stay near; Percy couldn't let go. As he looked down at her, he frowned. The girl looked beyond tired, weary, war-fatigued. Staying there for the past year had taxed her. Her father may be the god of war, but she was still a mortal prone to exhaustion.

  Percy nodded. "I know. Annabeth's been trying to keep me updated."

  Judith only soured a little at the fact that her friend had been in more contact with Percy than herself. Her fault, that was her own fault, Judith reprimanded herself.

  "You should go see her," Judith decided, yet unmoving from her rested spot.

  "In a bit," he agreed quietly.

  They stayed there for a little longer than 'a bit,' but neither one minded. They had been deprived of each other and were trying to make up for it while not at each other's throats, because gods knew that's where they'd end up again soon.

  Judith didn't see eye to eye with many people and it never bothered her usually, but she despised that her and Percy couldn't find some even ground. They were on rocky terrain, constantly fighting to gain some sort of stable footing or understanding and the girl desperately hoped the world would level itself out soon or she would resort to solving the problem herself with less than pretty means.

NOTES;
SO NOW YOU UNDERSTAND WHY I HAD THAT HAPPY CHAPTER TO END THE FIRST ACT. POOR BABIES NEED COUPLE'S THERAPY OR SOMETHING. EVEN THOUGH THIS CHAPTER ENDED WITH A SWEET SCENE, THEY'LL STILL HAVE A LITTLE WHILE OF UNCERTAINTY BC OF THIS WHOLE RIVER STYX BIZ YA KNOW

HOW DO YOU GUYS FEEL ABOUT JUDITH WANTING PERCY TO HAVE THE CURSE? DO YOU THINK SHE'S BEING REASONABLE? TOO PUSHY?

ALSO I JUST REALIZED THIS ACT COULD BE PRETTY LONG...I HAVE A LOT OF ORIGINAL SCENES THAT WILL TAKE UP A LOT OF SPACE AND THEN THE ACTUAL BOOK THINGS TAKE UP A LOT TOO. WE'LL SEE

@Marve1SpnV1dTrash made some amazing art for this chapter. The scene where Nico is hanging on a branch and Judith's sharpening her sword. I love it so much. The tumblr handle is fightmebutilllose. It's an art blog with free commissions for authors, check it out!